


Evidence

by tessie0713



Category: Borderlands
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 21:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5106800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessie0713/pseuds/tessie0713
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even if they were separated, their hearts and souls were always with each other, and connected by the boot and socks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boot in a Hand

**Author's Note:**

> An old work which was submitted to "FanFiction" when "Atlas Mugged" was recently released, so the setting is not complete.

Apart from applying almost all forces pressing the brim and grabbing the edge of the caravan to prevent falling, Fiona was tightly holding a man's boot which was wore merely a few seconds ago. After the caravan resuming to its standard speed, she slowly approached Sasha who was controlling the wheel. There was a half hour of silence before she started to speak.

"What are you going to do with that?" Clearly, this was not a common question asked right after surviving from moonshots.

"Do with what?"

"That...atrocious skag skin shoe...which is still in your hand." Sasha reluctantly described the boot, distinctly showing displeasure.

"Oh, now that you mention this, I totally forget. Thanks."

"It seems you were. Don't mention it."

Looking at the boot in her left hand, Fiona just realized that she had been holding it for so long without her own awareness. She did not know why, but she thought it was her responsibility to keep this thing safe. After all, it was her who grabbed his foot at the first place, and there weren't any other more practical ideas flowing in her head, such as throwing it away or reusing its material for her future costumes.

"Let's just ... hold it for a while." Without any hesitation, she answered.

"Hold it? Really? Are you thinking of returning it? What if they die? Eh, maybe I should ask, what if HE dies?" Sasha obviously did not approve by asking five questions in succession, which was quite predictable.

After hearing the last couple of words in the last sentence, Fiona's heart immediately got a shock which made her speechless. Unlike electric shocks, this one was less painful. However, the pain seemed to last much longer. Also, there were some mysterious emotions starting to swirl in her head, making her felt like being car sick. She could not accurately put them into words to clearly describe what they really were. However, there was one thing that could absolutely be ensured.

It HURT. Really HURT. HURT like hell.

It was not surprising to witness people dying on Pandora, especially for locals like her. She had been so used to see people dying right in front of her face since she was just one of the stray kids in Hollow Point. She actually felt a bit sad as they probably could not meet Felix again. Even if they could, things just could not be changed to what they were. However, she would obviously be outraged and depressed if Sasha died since they were family, right? Also, they were really on their own now, and the fact that each other had become the only trustworthy person on this planet just made perfect sense.

Anyway, she had to admit glasses face did impress her a little. Even now, she still could not believe how a table jockey who probably did not drive a motorcycle in his entire life could stand on a vehicle, jump to another bigger vehicle, steal a gun near a bandit driver and give him a critical shot. Perhaps he was not weak at all, and he might get six pack abs too. Wait. Something went so wrong here. Let's pass this.

But another guy who looked just like a robotic walking stick? No way. Not even a bit. He was so lame to beg for a deal by crying like a baby. He attempted to work something out by drooling on the floor. He arrogantly spoke out his stupid plan of getting into the Atlas facility. His face was dumb. His mechanical arm was nerdy and silly. His haircut was pompous. He was totally useless, worthless and was a complete moro-

"Fiona? Fiona!" A loud but far voice was heard not before she felt someone shaking her. "Whoa! What's wrong?" Fiona quickly raised her head and found Sasha's face was just not close enough to strike hers, and her shoulders were grabbed by both of her sister's hands.

"That's what I want to ask and you just scared the hell out of me. I had been calling you at least over 10 times." She could tell Sasha was abnormally nervous from her voice.

"Sorry." Fiona softly massaged her right temple with a few fingers to gather her consciousness. Now, she could clearly hear Sasha's voice and sense the caravan stopped, and her heart was not in pain anymore. Instead, she was suffering from a light headache.

"Just worrying. Your face went blank and your eyes just looked like... your soul was out of your body. I never saw you like that before! Are you sick or is there anything bothering you?" Perhaps Sasha was paranoid, but Fiona really needed to worry about herself now. She also had no idea what was wrong with her.

Her heart was in pain when she started thinking about HIM. What's worse was that the more she thought about HIM, the more pain she had to bear, and she went lost at last. She was not sure if it was HIM who made her black out as she did not have this kind of bizarre feelings towards someone in her life before. It was illogical to be worried about someone THAT MUCH who had met for only a day. Telling Sasha her "symptoms" now was arbitrary and would probably worsen her anxiousness. Apart from this, it was too dangerous for the Hyperion boys to survive in the desert. What she had to do now was to make up something and solve the most urgent problem first.

"I am just SO worrying about the vault. Remember? The Gortys core consists of two halves and only I and he can touch them without getting shocked. Therefore, we will possibly fail to get into a vault if they are screwed. He is probably still carrying his piece at present. What we have to do now is to get this van fixed and go rescuing them as soon as possible." Fortunately, this was not a complete lie and Fiona did not need to feel guilty of lying to her only sister.

"Fair enough. I am so glad that your head is still clear." Sasha finally released her, and luckily did not follow up the previous questions regarding to HIM.

"Oh, one last thing." She added with a sweet smile before turning around, "it seems you really care about that shoe. Your hand did not even loosen a bit when you were fainted. Go on, keep it safe just like protecting your prince charming. I will not talk with you about this thing anymore."

"You better shut up." Fiona tried to smile more brightly than usual to conceal her embarrassment of holding a shoe all the time. Despite Sasha's sarcastic words, she had to face the fact that she was the peculiar one here.

They got off their van and headed for Scooter's garage.

Indeed, Fiona brought the boot with her. She looked at it again. This time, an image of HIM smiling like an idiot appeared in her brain. She shook her head hard to get rid of it.

'Not now.' She thought to herself.

Not only she did not let go of his boot in her hand, but she also gripped it harder in order to confirm his existence.

'Please be fine. Please be alright. You HAVE TO BE alright.'


	2. Other Half Lost

How many times did he get knocked out after landing on Pandora?

The first time was to be stroked by the Nakayama drive, which was the most classical one so far since his head almost exploded due to the electric shock. Second, he dropped from a broken platform and ended up lying on the icy floor of a kind of Atlas museum. Third, which was this time actually, falling from a moving caravan and tumbled across the desert like several miles.

However, something could be more terrible and embarrassing than these.

It was uncomfortable to wear not a PAIR of shoes but a shoe, especially when the boots got heels. They were not as high as the ones of women's high-heeled shoes, but they really had certain heights. Walking with only one this kind of shoe sucked because one of your legs had to bear extra forces exerted by the heel and the other might have to dangle a bit within each step.

"Luckily, the socks go perfect with my outfit. That's a relief." Rhys said to himself, staring at his right foot, finally intended to stand up after being awake for several minutes.

Before letting his legs supported his body, Rhys held out his mechanical arm towards the striped sock, lightly touching his own heel. "She was really trying to save me." He muttered as low as he could to ensure Vaughn did not hear, "She grasped me so firmly that there is still a little bit of her…touch. I could not imagine our first…contact turned out like this."

Rhys slowly stood up in case of some invisible injuries. He gazed into the distance where the sisters' car proceeded towards, feeling somewhat emotions were gradually growing in his heart.

"It's quite funny, right? She even said that we would have definitely be killed by the fall." Vaughn showed up behind him, totally shirtless.

"…Yeah. And I…uh…never mind." Turning to Vaughn, Rhys stopped his intended talking and instead had a deep sigh after discovering his friends' amazing six pack abs. The list of things he needed to worry about lengthened again apart from Handsome Jack topping the list.

"He is pretty yolked." Rhys screamed and retreated from where he stood after realizing the existence of Jack's hologram.

Speak of the devil. Literally.

At this point of moment, Rhys was finally fed up with the mountain of troubles.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU NOW! GET. OUT!" Recalling how Jack was wiped out from his brain last time, Rhys immediately raised his robotic arm and punched himself in the face. Jack entirely could not utter a word before he disappeared again.

"Rhys? Who are you talking to? What are you doing? We're the only ones here!" Vaughn legitimately freaked out.

"N-Nothing! Just trying to get it out of my system. I'm uh...tired. Physically and Mentally." To be fair, the majority was true. Some parts were even literally true.

"Valid. Let's get going! Dying of dehydration will be pretty lame."

"Right."

Each step was light, and each step was heavy.

There was something other than the inconvenience which bothered him so badly, and he was finally free to figure it out. During his walk, Rhys kept looking at his right foot consciously, and could not stop thinking of the person who grabbed it a while ago.

'Are they alright? Well, they are probably alright since they have a car. However, that car is half broken and might not last long. Also, is she still keeping my boot? What if they think we are dead? Will they help us if there are chances? Will she throw my boot away or turn it into one of her accessories? Actually, either way is reasonable.' He definitely knew it was impossible to deduce the answers of these questions, but he could not stop himself from thinking them again and again.

'Will SHE keep it until we meet again? Will SHE keep it if I die but she does not know?' Each time when he thought of this question, his pulse would weirdly accelerate for a second.

'I am glad that she IS the one who grabbed my foot, the one who was trying hard to save me and the one who was keeping my boot at the moment. No matter what SHE is going to do with it, I am fine with that. Of course, I want to know what exactly she will do with it, but if she is the one, it seems everything will be fine. Also, she trusted me to drive the caravan, and maybe I—'

"What do you think of the girls?" Turning round, Vaughn asked for no reason.

"What? Oh, they are…kind." Rhys stopped walking to reply.

"My preferred answer is something related to their 'safety', but it's fine. Let's chat."

"Chat about what?"

"The girls indeed! What happened when we were separated? How do you think of them? " Vaughn started to move again when he finished the sentence. "How's the kid sister? Do you two get along?"  
"Well. Not bad I think. She is just a typical anti-Hyperion like most others here. Perhaps she owns the Hollowpoint radio in the caravan and hosts bunches of Anti-Hyperion propaganda programs. Despite her cruel judgement towards Hyperion, she is good at taking out bandits, smacking computers and shooting."

"Sounds good."  
"I even made a pinky promise with her."  
"Interesting! For what?"  
"Lending her my stun baton if she would give it back. She is quite passionate into weapons and stuff."  
"I can see what you mean based on her reactions towards the SMG. Did she give it back?"  
"Yeah. It was similar to promising a child to offer her a candy bar if she behaves."

"I'm with you, Bro."

"So, w-what...huh...what about her?" Feeling weirdly nervous, Rhys asked after a minute of silence. He consciously inhaled an extra breath when he found his voice thrilling for unknown reasons.

"Her? Actually, she is cool!" Vaughn replied merrily.

"Really!?" Rhys was shocked after hearing a totally unexpected answer.

"I was surprised too. She seems in contrast to her frequently trigger-happy sister."

"I-I thought she would freak you out."

"To be honest, that's what I thought too. But she is not the type that can be judged by appearance." Vaughn smiled cheerily, talking with a relaxing tone. "Unlike me, she is calm and carefree. Even I was being an anxious and worrying skag turd back there, she was not annoyed or getting mad at me. Instead, she comforted me. Though, we had a little conflict when she knew that there was a bomb in the case. By the way, you are the one who kinda freaking me out right now."

"...What? Skag turd?" Rhys tried to filter out the most important information.

"That's what she called me when she saved me from being killed by a bandit. Man, I was thinking that damn case only at that moment and told her to get it. She chose to rescue me instead but I did not thank her. Oh, now I feel so sorry for her. Actually, she saved me more than one time by headbutting a psycho."

Rhys was at a loss for words. He sincerely hoped that all things he was listening now were stories, stories that were not retelling what really happened but were totally and completely fake. However, the happiness that Vaughn's face was brimming over with denied this. In addition, somewhere in his brain had started to fall apart.

"She promised to protect me and hoped that I can trust her. And she definitely saved my life! I feel safe and protected when we are together."

Rhys started finding himself difficult to breathe, and his rationality was being peeled off bit by bit by something. What's the worst, he had no idea what that thing was.

"I also helped her taking out a psycho after being rescued, and tried to get the case while she was fighting with another bunch of psychos. She is such a badass."

"Wow...you two are like...best friends now." He tried his best to conceal the slight anger permeating into his words.

"I don't know. At least we can be good friends. We barely have any communication barriers."

He did not want to listen to this anymore. He felt like his brain, his heart and his lungs were going to burst. All he wanted to do now was shouting. To shout as loud as he could.

"You know. Normally, it is difficult for people with opposite personalities to get along. However, sometimes if we can think oppositely, then we can immediately know what each other is thinking. Perhaps this is what we are now. Or there is a way of saying this..."

Starting from not long ago, every sentences Vaughn said were like numerous swords piercing through his heart. It was so strange to be hurt by words that do not have any malice at all.

"Opposite attracts."

"I'M NOT GONNA LIE! THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE!"

Startled by Rhys' deafening yelling, Vaughn stopped walking and talking, with his eyes widened. He found Rhys stooping, resting his hands on his knees and panting like just finished a marathon.

"Sorry, I am just...too exhausted. Let's go. Oh, here's Yvette." Rhys inhaled deeply to calm himself down before receiving the call.

Looking at his right foot, Rhys unintentionally picked up what he did not finished thinking. 'Oh, come on. YOU again? Why can't I just stop thinking about you? We have known each other for a day and you almost completely distracted me at once we were separated. Maybe this is why I got a bad temper and was angry at Vaughn so suddenly.'

He peeped at Vaughn for a second who was sitting next to him on Loader Bot.

'I don't care where we might end up in the future. I don't care if you think I am a moron. I don't care if you ... kinda get along well with my best friend. I just want to see your face, hear your voice and talk with you. AGAIN. NOW. And most importantly...'

Rhys turned on his Echo eye, viewing the information of Old Haven and Hollow Point. He took a few seconds to skim through the details of Old Haven before switching to the data of Hollow Point. At the moment he access the analysis, certain highlighted words caught his attention immediately as well as forced him to decide.

"Loader Bot! Go to Hollow Point! Try to find shortcuts! The sooner we arrive! The better!"

"To Hollow Point. FAASST." Loader Bot responded.

'...Nothing can happen to you until you return what you owe me.'

Looking at his right foot again, Rhys thought to himself.

'Please wait for me. I will come for YOU.'


	3. Reunion

She could not believe what she heard at the time she got off Loader Bot.

"Ah whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. I promise. That's our ride."

His voice, which was far but clear, and silly but genuine.

She found herself could not help being nervous in a sudden while strengthening the force of her left hand to hold the boot tighter. Despite being intense, she did not hesitate to rush into entering the garage before unconsciously hiding it at her back.

"They are our friends, Scooter!" There was a sense of relief in her exciting voice.

"What? Really?" Scooter cried surprisingly.

Without realising the whole situation, he turned to the entrance of the garage and had a glimpse at the shadow in bright red which became more concrete in the next second. His heart skipped a beat when her face was reflected in his eyes.

'FOUND YOU.'

It seemed time was frozen at one instant. Standing as still as mountains, both of them gazed at each other's eyes and exchanged smiles. The anger, the worry, and other sorts of complicated feelings were totally vanished all of a sudden.

Perhaps they did not know the fact that they were thinking the same thing towards each other, but it did not matter now.

"Well- thanks." Being pleasantly surprised, he slightly bowed his head before showing gratitude to her. Then he quickly approached the caravan to prevent the exposure of his subtly heated face.

When she was having a farewell chat with Scooter, there was a little affair somewhere.

"Hey!" Vaughn waved his hand to indicate the request of help to Sasha before speaking to her in whispers. "Why is Fiona holding Rhys' boot? I assume she is going to return it, but I think it will be definitely safer if she kept it in the car." Vaughn asked and expressed his opinions, pointing at the boot behind Fiona.

"Actually, she had been holding it all the time." Sasha replied with a low voice after getting close to Vaughn.

"Really? After we fell off the van?"

"Exactly. She never ever put it down or loosened her grip a little tiny bit, even when we were chased by bounty hunters."

"Hmm...I'm sorry to bring this up, but don't you think she is kinda feti-"

"No way. Not a DAMN way. And the main point is," Sasha sighed before continuing,"she had become out of conscious for a while during our trip to here. She was not in an actual coma, but just stopped responding to everything in this universe. Her eyes looked hollow and her face went pale, she kept holding that shoe, however."

"Sounds like a defected robot."

"I think your metaphor is appropriate."

"Speaking of malfunction, Rhys was not in proper situation either." Vaughn adjusted his glasses, "He abruptly yelled at me when we were talking about your sister."

"Fiona? This is too strange." Sasha perceived Fiona coming closer, "let's discuss this later."

"What are you two up to?" Fiona asked out of curiosity in a delighted tone.

"We are reviewing the atlas models we found!" Vaughn hoodwinked.

"Yes, we are! They are amazing! Heh heh!" Sasha added before dragging Vaughn into the car, "hey Fi, let me take the wheel this time."

"Sure."

Fiona got on the caravan afterwards.

"Well, they surely have a lot of common topics."

Through the window of the caravan, rocks, deserts, mountains and the sky could be seen. The journey was safe and sound. There were not any skags, rakk hives, psychos or bandits on the road. The Hyperion base, Helios, floated nearby the moon of Pandora as usual without launching moonshots.

Sasha was driving the car nearby Vaughn who was standing next to her. They kept talking with each other about vintage atlas prototypes, models and something similar, leaving Rhys and Fiona out. The hat lady and robotic man sat side by side on the couch without looking at each other. Since they did not talk much before, the silence was not really awkward for them. Instead, it was what they need now to organise their thoughts and sort things out due to the occurrence of the large amount of consecutive incidents. From the moment when they sat together, the complicated feelings, unknown emotions and overwhelming pain in their hearts completely disappeared, seeming to never exist before. After enjoying a quarter of quiet period, both of them would like to start a conversation.

"Thanks for sending Loader Bot to help." "I'm very glad to see you again."

It was not easy to tell if it was lucky or unfortunate to start speaking at the same time. They originally intended to face each other, but they turned around immediately after finding one another talking.

Seeing himself as a gentleman, he thought it was his responsibility to clear up this mess.

"Ladies first." Rhys smiled, turning to Fiona.

"It's fine. I have already said what I want. So... please go on." Fiona found herself unreasonably intense to look straight at Rhys' eyes when she faced him.

"Okay then, actually, I just want to say that ehh... we both undertook so much trouble, huh? Somebody was chasing us and want us dead, we were so desperate until Loader Bot show up. And ehhh..."

"And?"

"And what about you two? Thing's good?"

"Not really. The caravan was messed up and some people want us dead too."

"I know." Rhys switched to a heavier tone, not smiling anymore.

"What? How do you know?" Noticing his seriousness, Fiona looked into his eyes.

"Think about it. Do you know why we came to get you?"

"Because of the vault? We do share the Gortys halves anyway." Fiona replied without having any second thoughts.

Rhys felt like his heart being stabbed right in the middle. Albeit the fact that he started to get angry, he managed to cover it up so far.

"Your bounty. It rises to $38,000. That's why we decided to go to Hollow Point."

"Are you worrying about me? Hyperion?" She suddenly talked in a teasing way, wearing a seductive smile as well as leaning closer to the man in front of her.

"Y-Yes!" Shivers were sent down Rhys' spine, and his heart skipped a beat. "H-Hey. Y-You talked like this to men a lot?"

"Nope." Fiona talked normally again, without being far from Rhys.

"Even Vaughn?"

"'Even Vaughn?' Of course not. You spoke like we were some sorts of best friends. Though I have to admit there are mutual understandings between us due to our characters differences."

"Well, that's a relief."

"Why is that a relief?"

"N-N-Nothing! Just saying. And ehhh... why did you..."

"You were too stressed, so I wanted to lighten the mood." Fiona turned her face away, "Anyway, thanks for worrying about me, but it is not necessary to be worrying that much. Even I and Sasha do not set our hearts on this. Actually, I have not looked that up for a long time. I totally did not notice myself becomes this worthy. It must be the fake vault key deal."

"I don't understand! You just accept this?" Rhys was surprised by her calm.

"I have no choices." She sighed.

"Sorry, I totally forgot your situation. Sorry, I really am." He was at a loss due to his poor choice of words.

"Relax! It is not your liability to understand. In fact, I am happy that you, unlike most other people, do care about us." She could not imagine a guy from Hyperion would be so caring to Pandorans like her. She thought he was just made of kindness, but her instinct told her that's more than this. Yet, she had not figured out what exactly that was.

"No one lives forever, Rhys." Fiona continued, "I have known this fact for almost thirty years. Every Pandoran struggles for their lives day after day, every hour, every minute, every second. These days look like an endless nightmare, it never ends unless we die."

She immediately added when she felt his worrying glance.

"I'm not being pessimistic. I just want to say, I am well prepared to die all the time. I will not be sad or frightened or suffering even I am going to die in the next second. I am too busy to be afraid of dying." She had a brainstorm a second later, "after all, we are just some dregs in a crazy planet."

Her last statement stirred up Rhys emotions. This time, he did not only his heart being stabbed, but it also bled like running water. He felt painful since she hurt herself. He knew this was illogical. He knew he should not the one being this worrying. Still, this was his most realistic feeling right now.

"Please stop."He said firmly with a voice far lower than usual.

"We are nobody. We are people who don't have any value at all-"

"I said STOP!"

Rhys rapidly turned towards Fiona, grabbing tightly both of her shoulders. He pressed his forehead up against hers to ensure she could not turn her face away. Their noses brushed against each other's, which caused them directly breathing out on their faces. Fiona was shocked and stunned, being forced to look into his eyes which were merely inches away, and her reflection could be clearly identified on his pupils. She found her heart pounded like ten times faster than normal and would seem to burst at any time. Her eyes widened. The force applied on her shoulders strengthened to ache whenever she tried to struggle, so she gave up.

"Rhys, it hurt." Her voice was trembling.

"Never say things like that again. NEVER." He said in a rage.

"I don't understand. Why do you... I am just a nobody to you!"

"May-Maybe you are right. But... I cannot allow a person to demean herself!"

His tone was found a bit sobbing when she listened to it carefully, which made her even more confused.

"All people's lives are precious. No matter where they borne, no matter what they do, especially for the ones who love them! And... so are you. Fiona." His voice started to turn gentle.

"Rhys..."

"So, please cherish your life. This is not an order or a promise, but a request."

She started pitying this man as well as feeling a certain mysterious warmth growing in her heart. She knew she was happy that someone cared about her, but she could not betray her own feelings at the same time.

"Sorry, but I really don't care about that anymore. Really." She truly felt a bit sad.

"I know. So... if you don't want to cherish your life for yourself, then cherish it for ME then."

"WHAT?"

"I-I mean we still have to find the vault and there are still tons of problems ahead to be solved. I will be in great trouble if I... lose you. You see? I still cannot take care of myself on this planet, so I... need to be together with you until things are over. Understand?"

Actually, she almost did not understand a bit of this whole thing, but here came her reply.

"Okay. I-I will cherish my life... for you."

"Thank you. Thanks a lot."

Rhys finally let go of Fiona who was still astonished. Her whole body stretched due to nervousness, not moving a bit. Rhys was taking deep breath with his face in his palm. Their conversation had suspended for a short while.

"Do you feel tired?" She broke the silence this time.

"Indeed. My body is about to collapse." He said with his customary tone.

"How about taking a nap? There is still some time before we reach there."

"Good idea."

When Rhys was leaning on the back of the couch, he saw Fiona taking off her hat. The bright red strands of her hair were shiny to keep his eyes on them for a second.

"I wanted to say this some time ago. You look better without the hat. I-I mean it is weird."

"What a cruel judgement! But I am sure it goes perfect with my outfit." She replied confidently.

After that, there was a long silence between them.

"Hey! Look at them!" Vaughn tapped Sasha's shoulder to arouse her attention.

"What?" Sasha faced the couch behind without losing awareness of the road, "ohhh ... I don't know want to say. I wish I had a camera." She spoke in a way that something cute was discovered.

Fiona and Rhys were sleeping soundly on the couch, rested against each other. Fiona rested her head on Rhys' right shoulder, drawing his mechanical arm close to her. Rhys pillowed his head with Fiona's. Both of their breath was sounded stable and peaceful.

"Does she hug dolls while sleeping?" Vaughn asked.

"Never. I think she just feels more comfortable and … safe to grab something when being asleep."

"Perhaps one day, they will be used to rest their heads on each other's shoulders." Vaughn said, "anyway, I don't have any ideas about why are they become so worn-out."

"I think it is better to leave them be. They have to find out the answer themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Just letting these mature adults solve their own problems."

After glimpsing the faces of the two sleeping members, Sasha resumed concentrating on her driving.

Since Rhys was the one who got Echo eye which was a handy tool for scanning Atlas Tech, he naturally assumed the liability of looking for the top-secret military facility. Meanwhile, the rest of the group maintained standing by, as Fiona accompanied Sasha and Vaughn stayed with Loader Bot.

"So, is the robotic arm comfortable?" Wearing an evil smile, Sasha asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just asking. You seemed to enjoy sleeping together, like that."

"Hey! Don't put it like we have done something embarrassing. We just sleep as normal people do."

"Oh? So leaning on each other's shoulders and grabbing his arm while asleep are normal, huh?"

"We did NOT do things like that! And I did not touch his arm a bit!"

"...Are you sure you are not being forgetful?"

"No, I'm telling the truth."

Actually, Sasha wanted to tease her own sister by using this excuse. However, now she could ensure that the both of the persons involved slept so soundly or had some sweet dreams causing them forget how they dozed. It could also explain why they woke up naturally without being embarrassed. Then, Sasha was irritated when she noticed something.

"You still have not returned it? Seriously?" Sasha asked with her head pointing towards Rhys' right foot which was still out of boot.

"...Nope. I put it in the tool chest while he was not looking, and I... forget to return it." Hiding Rhys' boot behind her back, Fiona replied guiltily and avoided her.

"Oh, you are killing me, Fiona. I drove for like three hours and kept talking with Vaughn for nothing!" Sasha exclaimed, having the face in her palm.

"You were doing all these on purpose? Why?" Fiona was puzzled.

When Sasha was about to open her mouth in order to explain the whys and wherefores, she hit upon an inspiration. "Well, it's not ALL your fault after all." Then, she grabbed Fiona's left arm as fast as she could, and intended to wave it in the air.

"RHYS! YOU FORGET SOMETHING!" Shouting loudly, Sasha retained applying force on Fiona's arm. Though, Fiona was strong enough to have her arm still. Rhys obviously heard the words before took a look on his right foot, then began getting close to them.

"Sash! What the heck are you brat doing?" Fiona yelled at her, being surprised and a little resentful.

"Oh my dear sister." Sasha whispered in her ear, "no worries, your prince will not leave you even if you give his shoe back."

"You are talking nonsense."

"Oops, Vaughn seems to need me now. I better go check on him."

"Hey-" Sasha walked away on her own without turning her back to Fiona. At the same time, Rhys was almost right in front of her.

Fiona felt a bit panic at first when she witnessed Rhys approaching her but she was able to keep calm in a second as she always did. Originally, she wanted to wait for him to start the conversation. However, this idea was abandoned after she saw his right foot in the sock.

"That's a nice sock." She broke the silence again.

"Oh, r-really?" Rhys then started muttering small odds and ends relating to socks and gentlemen.

"And you surely are a fan of stars and stripes too." She adjusted the position of her hat.

"Yeah, so..." he would like to request what he had lost for a long time.

"You want your boot back." She seemed to know what he was thinking and even said whatever he wanted with perfect timing.

"Thank you. That's all I want. You are definitely a lifesaver." He squatted down to put on his boot after received it from Fiona's hand.

"Be careful next time, Hyperion boy. Though I will save you if you are in danger next time."

Once again, her teasing words and seductive smile sent a chill down his spine and greatly raced his heartbeat to an ultimate rate.

"So... what is this for this time?" Rhys asked when he was resuming standing.

"You mean the way I speak? Well, I just think your reaction is interesting."

Although he did not dislike this style of her tone, he was not satisfied either. He always wanted more from her, such as talking with each other, doing some stuff with each other or just being together with each other doing nothing. In addition, it would be better if she did not view him as "an interesting guy" only.

"I see! And, sorry... for being so rude back there." Rhys scratched the back of his head.

"Never mind. I know you were just worrying." Fiona said in her normally carefree way.

"So, eh... I better get back to my investigation." He winked at her before leaving.

"See you." She glanced at him as response.

Rhys slowly walked away before Sasha came back to Fiona. Sasha sighed when she saw Fiona grinned while looking towards where he went.

"I always wonder what you are thinking when you smile that creepily."

"Nothing, Sasha. Nothing."

Fiona kept her smile, going on with staring at the tall and slim Hyperion.

Maybe one day, she will be managed to get him a good pair of socks as gift. Probably.

"Wow, you talked like we were some stupid teenagers." said by a man in black suit.

"Not 'we were'. You should say 'I am'. You are a stupid teenager all the time." followed by the reply from a lady wearing a black hat.

A period of time had passed since they were captured by the mysterious stranger. At the start, it was extremely irritating for both of them to review all the shameful events they undertook. The storytelling became a sort of daily routine that could be adapted by the two hostages after a short while, however. Due to their excessive quarrels, the kidnapper finally ran out of ideas to stop their fight smoothly and just let them talk whatever they want until they become too furious to continue each time.

Tonight was as tranquil as most of the other nights. The captor had already fallen asleep for about an hour because of exhaustion after being annoyed by the bickering for almost half-day. Meanwhile, the two people were sitting shoulder to shoulder near the bonfire, talked some trivial matters other than vaults, Gortys Project or Handsome Jack. This was what they did when the stranger was ensured not listening at all since most parts of the stories were far more awkward than the usual ones. Both of them agreed that talking things which seemed to be not necessary could be a way to unveil how they actually felt towards each other, and it was a more meaningful activity than barely arguing.

"Okay. I AM a stupid teenager. You are not smarter than me anyway." Looking at the centre of the bonfire, he scolded her as usual. The only difference was the little softer tone than he always had when being in dispute with her.

"I don't care. It becomes none of my business at the instant you admit it." Unlike him, she kept her cheerful talking style mixing with irony as usual. The light of the fire shone on her face and eyes.

"You know what? Perhaps you are irrational, but you are just getting more irrational bit by bit day by day."

"Unless I get rid of you, I cannot turn back into my sane self."

Albeit the cruelty in the words, the atmosphere in between was much more peaceful than it usually was. When both of them were not willing to speak or just out of topics, silence was their first option all along. The atmosphere was somewhat nostalgic.

Several minutes later, she tilted her head a little lower. He could notice that as he constantly glanced off her expression with the corners of his eyes.

"Hey, you are probably right." There was a light flavour of depression in her voice.

'Is she … upset?' He did not become aware of his own habit which was paying attention to her most of the time instead of considering his own situation.

"This planet is a giant piece of shit in this universe. The people are shitty. The creatures are shitty. Everything is a complete mess."

He decided to stay silence to let her go on.

"I have been wondering why there are still so many people fighting for their dreams here with great motivations. And my guess is..."

He peeked at her face and found her corners of the mouth rose a little.

"As long as we are together with our loved ones, there are hopes to be viewed as our reasons to carry on. Where love is, where the heaven is."

A second later.

"Puff- Haha! Ahahahahahaha!" He could not control himself from laughing out loud.

"Do you think it is funny?" She turned towards him, asking grumpily.

"Nonono! I am just… hahaha… did not believe something… romantic would come out from your mouth. Phew..."

"I am being serious."

"I know I know! And I… eh… totally agree with you. Seriously."

"Really? Well, that's a relief." She turned her face away, "and I hope one day, we can reach that place… where our loved ones are there." Although she could ensure that he would not care, she still wanted to spit this out.

"Yeah. I think so." He also thought the same and determined alleviating the atmosphere, "if we can get to there, we are also able to free ourselves from the dumb shoe, silly socks and stupid hat-"

"Pardon?"

"Ohmygawd." It was too late when he realized something was wrong.

"SAY. IT. AGAIN."

"I-I didn't say anything."

"Do you know how important that hat was for me? That was my favourite! It would have been fine if you did not screw things over!"

He got punched in the neck before he could understand the whole situation.

After all, their destination might not be far away. Still, they had a long way to go.


End file.
